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My wife and I went up to Wolf Creek to do some shooting this morning. I took 3 of my guns, my new Springfield XD 9mm 4.0, a Smith & Wesson M&P .380 EZ and my Colt Trooper .357.
My wife started off with her S&W .380 EZ which shot fine for the first mag through it. She then loaded the 2nd mag and on about the 4th shot all we heard was a pssft... not even as loud as a 22 and the cartridge didn't eject. I had her clear the round but it wouldn't fire (good thing as it turns out). I took a look, dropped the mag and held open the slide but didn't see any problems. I put the mag back in and racked out a couple of bullets as a test and noticed that the ejection port was still partially open and I could see a bit of brass from the feeding round.
I dropped the mag again, made sure the chamber was clear and took the gun apart and saw that the bullet was stuck just inside the feed end, not visible without having the barrel out. Luckily it had stuck close enough that the next round could not feed all the way in and let the bolt close so it would fire. I didn't have a rod or any way to try to get the bullet back up so I put that gun away until we got home. I did keep the spent cartridge separate so I could also look at it later as well.
When I got home I found a wood dowel that just fit the barrel and hit it a few times with a rubber mallet. The bullet popped back out. I don't see any problems inside the barrel with a bore light so I figure the round just didn't have enough power to more than push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel a little bit.
From the saved cartridge I was able to determine that it was from a box of Remington UMC 95 gr FMJ .380 that I bought at the same time as I bought the S&W EZ. It looks like it was the last couple of rounds from the box (we had shot most of it the week before) as the next bullets in the mag were Sig Sauer .380. ammo that I'd bought elsewhere later. At first I thought it was one of the Sig Sauer cartridges but the bad cartridge had a R P stapmped on it so I knew it wasn't. If I hadn't of saved the cartridge I would have blamed it on the Sig Sauer ammo, so I'm glad I had it.
I don't know how common this kind of problem is but the reason I bought the Remington was because it was a name brand. I don't have any more Remington .380 but I still have about 250 rounds of Remington 9 mm that I bought at the same place when I bought the Springfield XD a couple of weeks ago, so I hope it's not inherent to the brand.
I will see how the other brands of .380 I have do before I decide what I'll buy next time. I only bought a box of about 5 brands so I could see how each shot through the EZ before I bought a large amount later. When I do, unless I have some of the same issues with the other brands I have, it probably won't be Remington .380.
Mike
My wife started off with her S&W .380 EZ which shot fine for the first mag through it. She then loaded the 2nd mag and on about the 4th shot all we heard was a pssft... not even as loud as a 22 and the cartridge didn't eject. I had her clear the round but it wouldn't fire (good thing as it turns out). I took a look, dropped the mag and held open the slide but didn't see any problems. I put the mag back in and racked out a couple of bullets as a test and noticed that the ejection port was still partially open and I could see a bit of brass from the feeding round.
I dropped the mag again, made sure the chamber was clear and took the gun apart and saw that the bullet was stuck just inside the feed end, not visible without having the barrel out. Luckily it had stuck close enough that the next round could not feed all the way in and let the bolt close so it would fire. I didn't have a rod or any way to try to get the bullet back up so I put that gun away until we got home. I did keep the spent cartridge separate so I could also look at it later as well.
When I got home I found a wood dowel that just fit the barrel and hit it a few times with a rubber mallet. The bullet popped back out. I don't see any problems inside the barrel with a bore light so I figure the round just didn't have enough power to more than push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel a little bit.
From the saved cartridge I was able to determine that it was from a box of Remington UMC 95 gr FMJ .380 that I bought at the same time as I bought the S&W EZ. It looks like it was the last couple of rounds from the box (we had shot most of it the week before) as the next bullets in the mag were Sig Sauer .380. ammo that I'd bought elsewhere later. At first I thought it was one of the Sig Sauer cartridges but the bad cartridge had a R P stapmped on it so I knew it wasn't. If I hadn't of saved the cartridge I would have blamed it on the Sig Sauer ammo, so I'm glad I had it.
I don't know how common this kind of problem is but the reason I bought the Remington was because it was a name brand. I don't have any more Remington .380 but I still have about 250 rounds of Remington 9 mm that I bought at the same place when I bought the Springfield XD a couple of weeks ago, so I hope it's not inherent to the brand.
I will see how the other brands of .380 I have do before I decide what I'll buy next time. I only bought a box of about 5 brands so I could see how each shot through the EZ before I bought a large amount later. When I do, unless I have some of the same issues with the other brands I have, it probably won't be Remington .380.
Mike
